The Green Thread: Marijuana in the states

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Nielson Brothers polling of SD:

https://www.southdacola.com/blog/2020/11/survey-nielson-brothers-polling-nbp-statewide-survey-october-24-28-2020/

Oct 24-28

Medical marijuana
462 likely voters, MoE: 4.61%

For 57
Against 33
Unsure 9

Recreational marijuana
455 likely voters, MoE: 4.59%

For 48
Against 43
Unsure 8

[7,052,770]

Mississippi marijuana winning in a landslide

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

SD looking good for legalization!

[NOVA Green]

OR Drug related initiatives appear to be a clear rejection on the "War on Drugs".



Relatively closely tracking with the Biden > Trump wins in OR thus far

[Mr. Matt]

NJ's cannabis vote currently at about 2/3 saying YES
https://elections.ap.org/dailykos/results/2020-11-03/state/NJ/race/I/raceid/31679

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1323852852700368899

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1323824023634149376
https://twitter.com/MarijuanaPolicy/status/1323836876155998208

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1323879300618215427
Holy crap South Dakota

[Lourdes]

Looks like every legal marijuana ballot question passed. Nice.

[MasterJedi]

So how quickly do SD GOP try and subvert the will of the people?

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

So how quickly do SD GOP try and subvert the will of the people?

I will help in the fight for this against old boomers that don't want it.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Looks like every legal marijuana ballot question passed. Nice.

Witnesses 2020

The electorate: Yeah. I'm hitting the blunt.

[GP270watch]

Since we're legalizing cannabis everywhere maybe people will chill the hell out.

[politicallefty]

South Dakota was the real shock. It's winning 54-46 (a similar margin to most other marijuana legalization initiatives) in a state Trump's winning by 62-36. Why did this pass relatively easily while the initiative in ND two years ago went down in a landslide defeat?

It likes like the final margin in Arizona isn't going to be much different from the current 60-40 lead it has right now, a record margin apart from NJ. That's a huge shift from the 2016 initiative. As for NJ, current reporting is only 78% of expected votes, so we'll see if the current massive 67-33 margin holds.

[MasterJedi]

What's the next state to approve? I think New York and Nebraska.

Nebraska should have been this year but the GOP killed it in the state SC.

[Lourdes]

What's the next state to approve? I think New York and Nebraska.

Nebraska should have been this year but the GOP killed it in the state SC.

Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Mexico are some other possibilities.

[Horus]

What's the next state to approve? I think New York and Nebraska.

Nebraska should have been this year but the GOP killed it in the state SC.

My gut tells me it's gonna be held up in New York for years.

New Mexico, Minnesota, Maryland, New Hampshire and perhaps even Wyoming (They have a libertarian streak) are likely to legalize within the decade, probably sooner rather than later. I would also say Hawaii but I'm pretty sure older Asians/Pacific Islanders, along with older Hispanics are the most anti weed demographic in the country.

[hurricanehink]

I suspect most east coast liberal states will legalize within the next two years, given NJ’s upcoming market. PA and FL would be smart to have it on the ballot in 2022 to maximize youth turnout in the midterms. In fact, can we get someone of these Dem 420 celebs to fund ballot drives in potential 2022 swing states?

[MasterJedi]

I suspect most east coast liberal states will legalize within the next two years, given NJ’s upcoming market. PA and FL would be smart to have it on the ballot in 2022 to maximize youth turnout in the midterms. In fact, can we get someone of these Dem 420 celebs to fund ballot drives in potential 2022 swing states?

Wisconsin sadly doesn't have it available and the Republicans in charge don't think it should be legal so it won't even be brought up for a vote.

[politicallefty]

My first thought with seeing South Dakota passing a legalization initiative was that it could probably pass anywhere outside the South and Utah. I'm not sure why the 2018 North Dakota initiative went down in massive defeat. Arizona, California, and Oregon all had initiatives defeated before regrouping and passing them within a few years. The 2015 Ohio initiative was fatally flawed for two big reasons: attempting it in an odd year, but more importantly the initiative was very poorly written. I'm surprised they haven't tried again there, as I'm sure it would easily pass.

Florida would be a very hard lift because of the 60% threshold for ballot initiatives and also the age component on this issue, which is very real. So far, the only states that have cleared that threshold are New Jersey (easily) and Arizona (barely).

I'm pretty sure the only legislature so far to legalize through the normal legislative process (as opposed to ballot initiative) is Vermont (and incidentally signed into law by Governor Phil Scott). I'm not really sure what so many Democratic legislators are afraid of. I have a hard time seeing any significant number of Republican legislators come out in support of legalization outside of New England or Wyoming.

[Gass3268]

My first thought with seeing South Dakota passing a legalization initiative was that it could probably pass anywhere outside the South and Utah. I'm not sure why the 2018 North Dakota initiative went down in massive defeat. Arizona, California, and Oregon all had initiatives defeated before regrouping and passing them within a few years. The 2015 Ohio initiative was fatally flawed for two big reasons: attempting it in an odd year, but more importantly the initiative was very poorly written. I'm surprised they haven't tried again there, as I'm sure it would easily pass.

Florida would be a very hard lift because of the 60% threshold for ballot initiatives and also the age component on this issue, which is very real. So far, the only states that have cleared that threshold are New Jersey (easily) and Arizona (barely).

I'm pretty sure the only legislature so far to legalize through the normal legislative process (as opposed to ballot initiative) is Vermont (and incidentally signed into law by Governor Phil Scott). I'm not really sure what so many Democratic legislators are afraid of. I have a hard time seeing any significant number of Republican legislators come out in support of legalization outside of New England or Wyoming.

It sounds like Rhode Island is going to push ahead and try to pass a legalization bill in the next session.

[MasterJedi]

My first thought with seeing South Dakota passing a legalization initiative was that it could probably pass anywhere outside the South and Utah. I'm not sure why the 2018 North Dakota initiative went down in massive defeat. Arizona, California, and Oregon all had initiatives defeated before regrouping and passing them within a few years. The 2015 Ohio initiative was fatally flawed for two big reasons: attempting it in an odd year, but more importantly the initiative was very poorly written. I'm surprised they haven't tried again there, as I'm sure it would easily pass.

Florida would be a very hard lift because of the 60% threshold for ballot initiatives and also the age component on this issue, which is very real. So far, the only states that have cleared that threshold are New Jersey (easily) and Arizona (barely).

I'm pretty sure the only legislature so far to legalize through the normal legislative process (as opposed to ballot initiative) is Vermont (and incidentally signed into law by Governor Phil Scott). I'm not really sure what so many Democratic legislators are afraid of. I have a hard time seeing any significant number of Republican legislators come out in support of legalization outside of New England or Wyoming.

It sounds like Rhode Island is going to push ahead and try to pass a legalization bill in the next session.

Illinois did it through the legislature as well, and in one fell swoop unlike Vermont.

[The Mikado]

Given how close it came in NM last year, and how many of its biggest opponents in the Dem Party lost their primaries, I fully expect NM to legalize marijuana in 2021. Especially now that it has TWO neighbors, AZ and CO, which have legalized.

[Sir Tiki]

Virginia governor pushes to legalize marijuana

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Gov. Ralph Northam is pushing to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Virginia, which could be the first Southern state to do so.

Northam announced his support for legalization Monday, saying he wants a responsible approach that promotes racial equity and preserves youth safety. The Democratic governor said he is going to propose legislation during next year’s legislative session, a process he said could take up to two years. But he added that he’s certain the drug will eventually be legal for personal use.

“Legalizing marijuana will happen in Virginia,” Northam said.

https://apnews.com/article/ralph-northam-legislation-marijuana-virginia-3369fd0d37a364ce1a79aa8fdc5d34a2

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of states in "Wait and see" mode end up pulling the trigger (Or at least making pronouncements) sooner than later due to the clean sweep of this months' ballot measures.


The 2021 Virginia elections could be very interesting when it comes to the future of legalization there. I don't know how support is within the state legislature, but I'd imagine it hinges on whether the state has any 2009/2017-esque electoral complications (State control zooming to the opposite party that's in the White House).

As someone with growing interest in moving out there, I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this!


How does sentiment look in Maryland? I don't know nearly enough about their politics, but I feel they're a state that's stayed relatively quiet on this issue. Is most of the support centralized in Baltimore or something? I wonder how much their tune could change if the next congress allows DC to open up dispensaries.